“CAN DO” Sculpture by Seward Johnson
Main Lobby Exhibition
Special Presentation Friday, May 6th • 6pm
by Claire Brown from Seward Johnson Atelier
“Can Do” Rosie the Riveter Installation on loan from Seward Johnson Atelier for May, celebrates the icon that empowered women to pursue employment during World War II, which opened opportunities for women in the military and other male-typical jobs during this period of history. Unveiling ceremony date to be announced shortly. Free and open to the public.
On display for the month of May. Special viewings by appointment Monday through Friday or visit the Jersey Shore Arts Center’s Main Lobby Saturdays, 10 am to 2 pm for open viewing hours. This installation and the Elysia Forthsyth art exhibition are both free and open to the public as part of the nonprofit mission to engage, educate and entertain Jersey Shore residents.
Claire Brown has been associated with the Seward Johnson Atelier in different roles for over thirty years. She earned her MA in Sculpture in the Spring of 1987, and that summer moved to Hamilton, New Jersey to start the apprenticeship program at what was then called the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture. Fascinated by the casting process and the opportunity to work with the best sculptors of the time, she focused her own work on medallic art and relief portraiture and participated in international exhibitions of medallic art, with work in the American Numismatic Society collection in New York.
She stayed at the Atelier until 1991 at which time she moved to Philadelphia to finish her graduate degree in Art Education at the University of the Arts. In 1993, Claire returned to the Johnson Atelier as the coordinator of Seward Johnson’s sculpture, simultaneously fulfilling the role of Director of Production and using the skills she learned at the Atelier to assist her husband, monumental sculptor Andrew Pitynski, with his work, before becoming the Atelier Director in 2019.